The Relative
by americanchld
Summary: A relative of Bess's comes to live with them. She ends up at Plumbfield, and love develops between her and Franz. Like so many of you this is my first fanfiction and I need your reviews. If you like I will write more chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**You Know the drill. These characters do not belong to me, except for Cecily, who is my own character creation.**

As the train pulled into the station, Amy turned to look at her husband. "How is she related to you again?"

"She's not exactly; she is my father's great niece, by marriage."

"And why are we taking her in?"

"Her mother and father died from a cholera epidemic and her grandmother and her grandmother's sister are too weak to care for her. Because of this I heard that she got into some trouble with men."

"So they send the little Jezebel to us, hoping that we can straighten her out. I just hope she won't ruin the purity of our daughter."

"I don't think that will be a problem, Amy. It wasn't anything to bad, just, well kind of like the talk that goes around about Jo and Nick, nothing too serious."

"Well I just don't think this is going to work. She's 22 Laurie."

This last comment was unheard by Laurie, he was already looking at the disembarking passengers for the one he was suppose to meet. Soon he noticed a young lady standing on the platform all by herself.

"Cecily?" He called out

The young lady's back had been turned away from him. She quickly turned around when she heard her name.

"Yes," She answered back.

Laurie extended his hand, Amy walked over to her husband.

"I'm Laurie and this is my wife, Amy. Your Grandmother has told me so much about you. I pleased to meet you."

"Yes, well I hope she has mentioned good things about me, not just how I'm a horrible, evil child." The smile from Cecily's face had fallen when he mentioned hearing about her. She became silent and upset. Even here, all these miles from home, from California, her reputation preceded her. Hadn't she learned her lesson?" She hopped that by being sent to Massachutes, especially a little town like Concord; she could leave all that behind her. Besides it wasn't even that terrible, although everyone thought that it was, especially her grandmother. Her grandmother did not think that is was proper to walk around town in the evening light. She had said Cecily was flaunting herself, like a prostitute, down the street. One night Cecily had meet up with one of her beau's. She tripped and fell, and he caught her. She had lingered a little longer in his arms than was necessary, and he bent down and kissed her. In that moment she realized that he wasn't the one that she would spend the rest of her life with. However, the town gossip had come around the corner while they were locked in the embrace. The rest is history.

"Don't worry, I don't believe them."

This brought Cecily back into the present.

"Really?" Cecily questioned.

"Really," Laurie reassured her.

Cecily's face lit up and a smile spread across her face. Maybe being sent to Concord wasn't a bad thing. She was filled with new possibilities, she could start over. Maybe she could teach, she had wanted to be a teacher ever since she could remember. They had schools out here, maybe someone needed a teacher. She had been sent to college to get her out of the way. When she was there she study hard and loved to learn. She hopped to spread her love of learning to children.

Laurie was surprised by the sudden change of her continence. Smiles and laughter replaced the dark somber look on her face. This was going to be a good change for her.

Amy too was surprised and no longer thought of Cecily as a Jezebel; however, she didn't quite trust her yet. Trust would come later, she had to earn it. Although, it looked as though her husband already trusted her, Amy thought with disgust.

"I hope you don't mind, my sister Jo has invited us to dine with them tonight?"

"Of course not I would love to meet her, but who is the 'them' that you are talking about?"

"My sister runs a boarding school and so we will be dinning with the whole crew. There are seven students, one of them being our daughter Bess, their teacher, a cook, and the grounds keeper. You will meet everyone tonight."

"Well Amy, I think that you have successfully succeeded in frightening the poor girl." Laurie said as he saw the worried expression on Cecily's face. "Don't worry Cecily, everything will be alright; there are not too many of them." With that Laurie put Cecily's bags in the buggy, helped the ladies up, and headed off towards Plumfield.


	2. Chapter 2

Cecily was welcomed into Plumfield as if she had lived there and was just returning from a vacation. There was something special about this place and the people within. Nowhere, since her parents died, had she felt so much acceptance. Plumbfield was bursting with life and it seemed whole house was preparing for dinner. Cecily and the other adults sat down in the pallor to get better acquainted. Mrs. Jo started talking about the children's latest adventures, when from in the dinning room, where the children were busy setting the table, came a loud crash. Immediately they all jumped up and hurried into the dinning room. At the head of the table stood one of the boys, looking down at the broken glass on the floor.

"Sorry Mrs. Jo, I almost had it this time. I got them all to the table before I broke one.

"That's ok Tommy; just go get a broom so I can help you clean this up."

Cecily tried to hide the smile that creped its way onto her face.

"Mrs. Jo, I can help Tommy clean this up, that way you can finish your conversation." Cecily said when she had got control of herself again. She thought helping this boy would give her something to do.

"That would be wonderful, thank you Cecily."

Jo, Laurie and Amy left the dinning room, leaving Cecily alone with all the children. She looked around the room, noticing all of the faces staring back at her. Suddenly she felt that maybe she was better off in the pallor with the adults, then with all the children just standing there. Shy at first when meeting strangers, Cecily looked down at the floor. Before she found the courage to speak up, a girl with short blonde hair confidently marched up to her.

"Hi, I'm Nan; you must be Bess's relative. Mrs. Jo said you come all the way from California." Nan said with an outstretched arm.

What else had these children learned about her? She wanted to find out but was not sure how to approach a subject solely about her.

"Yes that's correct. I'm very pleased to meet you Nan. My name is Cecily." Cecily took Nan's hand, which Nan gave a hearty shake.

Nan introduced everyone as they went bustling in and out. Bess to went up to Cecily and started to talk to her, sticking around close by to make her more comfortable. Cecily could tell upon meeting the children that they were good kids. Finally Tommy brought in the broom from the kitchen. She stooped down to pick up the big pieces, when Tommy swept up the little ones. Soon Cecily heard a single pair of shoes on the floor. All of the children had to returned into the kitchen to get more preparations for dinner. She was alone and did not know what to do. Cecily looked up to see a gentleman enter the room. Just then Nan rushed in with a pitcher of milk.

"Oh Nan, have you seen Aunt Jo?" His voice was soft and charming. He was handsomely boyish in appearance, but had a manly air about him. At that moment his eyes found hers and they were intertwined together.

"Yes she is in the pallor talking to Mr. Laurie. Why did you want her?" Nan's reply went unheard and unanswered by Franz.

He is so handsome, why is he still staring at me? What about me can be of interest to him? Cecily thought as she tucked a stray hair behind her ear and rose from kneeling. As their glaze grew deeper her questions did not seem to matter anymore, it was as if he was reassuring her that she was of interest and importance.

"Are you going to introduce us?" He said breaking the silence but still holding his gaze with Cecily.

"Oh right, Franz this is Cecily. She is a relative of Bess. Cecily this is Franz, he is our teacher."

Franz extended his hand toward her and she shyly slipped her hand into his outstretched palm. A warm sensation spread throughout her body; what was happening to her, she had never felt like this before.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Miss., I'm sorry I didn't catch your name." Franz looked around for Nan to help him out, she was no where to be seen. Nan had slipped out and was helping in the kitchen. A smile crept onto Cecily's lips.

"It's Grant, Cecily Grant."

Just then a black woman came hustling out of the kitchen with the main course and all the children trailing along behind her.

"Bess will go tell Mrs. Jo that dinner is ready, Nat you go tell Dan and Nick as well. Nan put that plate down over there and Emil set that over there."

The children hopped to whatever Asia told them to do. All this went observed by the young couple standing in the room.

Asia walked over to them, "Franz why don't you show the young lady to a seat."

"Right yes, here you are Miss. Grant." Franz helped Cecily to sit down and then sat across from her.

Soon everyone sat down in their usual places and multiple conversations started up. Cecily sat quietly in her seat, watching and listening to how everyone interacted. They all seemed to act as one family. Her heart yearned to be part of a family, talking, laughing, but most of all loving. She could see that everyone was accepted here; even the littlest member was just as important as the adults. Soon dinner was over, the children went upstairs to wash and go to bed and the adults sat down in the pallor.

"So Cecily, Laurie tells me that your grandmother wrote that you want to become a teacher someday." Jo said trying to pull the girl out from behind the wall she seemed to put up at dinner time.

Quietly Cecily replied, "Yes I do." She was going to leave it at that when she looked at Jo, whose eyes silently encouraged her to keep talking. "I taught some of the children in the city how to read. It was just something I did to keep me busy; their parents could not afford to send them to school. The children had to work in the factory along with their parents. After their sifts I would go over and teach them to read. I enjoyed watching the children's faces as they learned things for the first time, the light in their eyes, and the extra excitement in their voices. Oh I'm so sorry I have talked too much now."

Jo had seen the light in Cecily's eyes when she talked about teaching the children how to read. Franz too was enjoying listening to Cecily's previous life. Something about her was so captivating to him. Cecily noticed the kindness in Jo's eyes and the interest on the other faces and knew that she was not talking too much. Now more than ever she wanted to be apart of the on goings of Plumbfield.

They said goodbye at the end of the evening, and started off toward the Lawrence's home. That night after Cecily had gone to bed, Amy sat at her vanity brushing her hair while Laurie sat in their bed watching.

"Cecily seemed to fit right in to Plumbfield. What do you think?" Amy asked her husband.

"Yes I think she had a good time. I wanted to ask you, what do you think of asking Jo if Cecily could live there? I think if she lived here she would get bored, there's not much to occupy her time and no one her age to talk to."

"I think she would enjoy that and I don't think Jo would say no." Amy finished brushing her hair and climb into bed.

"It's settled then, I will ask Jo the next time I see her." He leaned over and turned off the light and the room became dark.


	3. Chapter 3

Cecily awoke in the morning to the birds singing. She slid out of bed and padded over to the window, as she drew back the curtain light stream into her bedroom. It was going to be a beautiful day, one of those first days of February when the sun shines bright and the whole world seems to think its spring. Cecily opened the window a crack and let the cool air of morning glide into the room. She took in a deep breath of the sweet air and headed over to her bed to change. She couldn't believe she was here, her first day living at Plumfield. Cecily floated around her room before deciding on what to wear. She finally decided on her pale pink dress, her mother always liked her in pink.

When she was finished she walked out of her room, down the stairs and out the door as quietly as she could. It was a lovely morning filled with the sights and sounds of spring. Cecily had never been a morning person, but today just felt so wonderful; she wanted to experience it outside in the first rays of morning. She wandered over to the school room, she had been taken around the grounds on a tour lead by Jo, but she wanted to observe it more closely than she had got a chance to before. Cecily walked into the schoolroom, the sun beamed through the window and spilled onto the desk giving them a unearthly look. She walked up to the front of the room and looked out onto the classroom. What would it be like to teach to a roomful of students? She knew one day she would find out, she couldn't wait to have her own classroom. From the front of the room, Cecily notice a small bookshelf in the corner.

Reading was something that Cecily loved to do; she loved to escape into a book forgetting the drab of everyday life. In books anything could happen, and life had a magical quality to it. She walked over to the shelf, reading the titles. She stopped on Pride and Prejudice, one of her favorites. Then Cecily notice a small book in the corner, she read the title, Little Women. "I have never heard of that one before, I wonder what it is about?" She picked it up and open the books cover, written by Josephine March she read. _"Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents," grumbled Jo lying on the rug." _

Franz decided to head over to the classroom early, there were still some lesson plans he needed to finish before the students came in today. Breakfast wouldn't be for another hour so he dressed and trek over to the classroom. Franz enjoyed the short walk to the barn, today was going to be a beautiful day, and perhaps he could teach his science lesson outside. He walked into the classroom and notice Cecily standing by the bookshelf, his heart began to beat faster. What was she reading; he slowly walked up to her. Little Women, the book Aunt Jo had written in honor of her sister, the one that his uncle Fritz had brought back published just before he proposed in the rain. Franz walked up behind her and gently laid a hand on Cecily's shoulder as he leaned in to whisper in her ear. "That is a wonderful book."

Cecily had been startled by his hand but his voice soothed her. She looked up from the book and smiled. She didn't turn around to face him but remained with her back turned.

"Oh and how would you know that," she said looking down and pretending to read again.

"Well, because I know the story and not just because I have read it." He lifted his hand from her shoulder.

"I don't understand." She snapped the book closed and turned around to face him, their eyes locked in an embrace.

"It is the story of Aunt Jo's childhood, with her sisters. It goes up to the part were she met my uncle Fritz and fell in love. He proposed to her right after it was published. You have chosen a great book to read."

"I can't wait to start reading then," she responded back to him.

Cecily could not take her eyes off of him, in that instant she had the urge to kiss him. Franz stepped in closer to her; he wanted so desperately to passionately kiss her soft mouth. His nearness to her sent small shivers up her spine. Franz responded by leaning in farther, emotions taking control. As their lips were about to meet Franz heard something call his name, they stopped frozen in just the inches that separated them. Franz heard the call again, it sounded so unreal and distant.

Following the last call, at that moment Rob came running into the classroom. He had no idea what was just going on and communicated the message that he had been sent to bring. Franz and Cecily pulled instantly apart.

"Mom told me to come and find you. She said to tell you that breakfast is ready." "Thank you Rob, we will be in a minute," responded Franz. The little boy did not leave; he just looked up doe eyed at Franz.

"I wanna walk with you." Franz could not reject the little plea of Rob.

"All right lets go have breakfast."

With Rob in the middle the three headed into the house.


End file.
